Revenge Thriller Prisoners Gets Fuqua Up

Aaron Guzikowski’s hot spec script “Prisoners” was supposed to have the hottest cast and the hottest director. Supposed to, anyway. The script has since lost its two would-be A-list actors, but the good news is that it’s replaced one A-list director with another. Out goes Bryan Singer, in comes Antoine Fuqua of “Training Day” and “Tears of the Sun” fame.

THR reports that the revenge thriller, written on spec by Guzikowski, will start shooting as early next year for a Fall 2010 release. Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale were originally interested in playing the film’s two male leads. The film is now without a cast.

“Prisoners” would have starred Wahlberg as a father in a small town who abducts and holds prisoner the man he believes is responsible for the abduction of his daughter and her friend. Bale would have played the big-city cop who shows up to help the locals solve the case.

Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson are producing for Alcon, who plans to release it through Warner Bros. They’re looking at a healthy $30 million-$40 million budget for the film. Considering the premise, that’s more than enough, as long as they don’t hire a $20 million dollar leading man, that is.